Home → Reports in Evergreen → Editing and Creating Templates → The Template Editor
All reports within Evergreen begin with creating a template. Templates identify a report’s:
The name and description of the new template should be entered into this pane.
The Name field must contain a name that is unique to the template folder in order to save the template.
The ‘Description’ field is optional, but it is a good practice to describe the display fields, filters, transforms, and operators used in the template for ease of reference.
You can add a link to local documentation that can help staff create a report template. To add documentation to a report template, click Admin → Local Administration → Reports, and create a new report template. A new field, Documentation URL, appears in the Template Configuration panel. Enter a URL that points to relevant documentation.
The link to this documentation will also appear in your list of report templates.
The Template Editor window is divided into two sections:
The Database Source Browser is divided into three panes:
The Core Source pane displays a list of data sources and allows you to select fields which will display as columns within a report. It also enables you to select fields for filtering and selection criteria.
This contains a tree view of the source database table and its links to other tables. If the linked database table contains references to other tables, then those can also be expanded in the tree view.
When a source is selected from the source tree menu, it's path populates the Source Path field in the Source Path pane. A menu populates underneath it with the available fields in that source path. Any of these fields can be selected for display or filter.
When a field is highlighted, the Field Transform textbox displays transforms that can be applied to the data.
For example, when ‘Daytime Phone” is highlighted, the Field Transform Pane displays the available, valid choices for displaying the field in a report. These choices include, among others:
For all field transforms, the “raw data’ output type generally displays the field “as it was typed into the database.” Appendix B lists all transform definitions within Evergreen.
The Template Configuration pane (bottom half of the Template Editor Window) lists the title of the report template, a report description, the fields that have been selected for a report, as well as any filters/criteria for running a report.
The Template Configuration Pane is made up of two parts:
This tab lists the fields that will be displayed in the report’s output. The pane shows the column header that will appear in the output. You can add additional columns by clicking the Column Pick drop down menu. Additional columns include “Field Name” and “Field Transform Type” columns. The “Field Name” column is especially useful in identifying fields after the Display Name has been altered.
The “Field Transform” column shows how the data will be displayed. To change the transform for a field, highlight the field and select “Change Transform” from the Item Action menu.
The “Move Field Up” and “Move Field Down” options in the Item Action menu determine the order of the columns in the final output; the field that is listed first will display in the first column of the output.
Within Evergreen, the filter tabs determine
The Base Filter Tab filters upon a single piece of information. For example, a base filter is set up for a report that includes a date range, each row of information within the database will be compared to the date range and either included or excluded from the report. In the example below, the report “Count Items by Circulation Modifier” has a base filter where the flag Is Deleted is set to FALSE. When the report is run, each item’s deleted flag will be reviewed and excluded from the report.
The Filter Field column displays the friendly name of the field; this name cannot be changed, but is useful for verifying that the filters have been correctly chosen.
The Field Transform column displays the transform currently applied to the field; the transform determines how the field will ‘look’ when it is compared against the user-specified value.
The Operator column displays the type of comparison that will be made. The Change Operator button allows the user to choose different operators, such as “In List,” “Equal to,” “On or Before,” etc...
The Value column displays any parameters that have been set up for this filter. Values can be set or removed using the “Change Value” and “Remove Value” buttons.
The column picker also allows the user to display Field Name, Data Type, and Field Transform Type columns.